Name: Plain Sponge Cake
Ingredients: two cups of fine powdered sugar; one cup of sifted flour; two teaspoonfuls of baking powder have been stirred; four eggs together; four eggs beaten to a stiff froth; salt

Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓

Plain Sponge Cake

Ingredients

two cups of fine powdered sugar
one cup of sifted flour
two teaspoonfuls of baking powder have been stirred
four eggs together
four eggs beaten to a stiff froth
salt

Directions

Make the batter

Beat the yolks of four eggs together with two cups of fine powdered sugar.
Stir in gradually one cup of sifted flour and the whites of four eggs beaten to a stiff froth.
Stir in a cup of sifted flour in which two teaspoonfuls of baking powder have been stirred.
Stir in a scant teacupful of boiling water, a little at a time. Add salt. Do not add any more flour.

Bake

Bake in shallow tins.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

582Calories

19 gProtein

6 gFat

108 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Yolks add richness, and whites beaten stiff trap air for a light crumb.
Powdered sugar: Sweetens the batter and helps give a fine, tender crumb.
Flour: Provides the structure that sets the cake's crumb as it bakes.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the cake rises.

The step that matters

Stirring in the beaten egg whites. The whites hold air bubbles that lift the cake as it bakes. Stir gently and only until combined, because overmixing knocks out that air and leaves a dense cake.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

White Cake431 recipes

Pound Cake373 recipes

Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes

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Plain Sponge Cake